Oceane Michelon of France battled through two misses in the range to score gold in the women’s 12.5km race in the final biathlon event of the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
The gold is the 23-year-old Michelon's first. France's Julia Simon won silver 6.6 seconds behind, and the bronze medal winner was Tereza Vobornikova of Czechia, 7.4 seconds behind.
"The last loop was really, really hard. It was just a lot of emotion," Michelon said after the race. "I was just thinking about being in the real now, in the moment, and just saying to myself, ‘the Olympics are ending at the finish line, and if you are not at the finish line, it's not finished."
The pack was really stretched out at the start of the race. The initial leaders were those that shot clean in the first range visit as the athletes who faced a penalty loop chased after them.
In the next prone range visit, Simon shot with precision and left the range we a one-second lead while Michelon had one miss.
The French trio of Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, and Michelon went into the third shooting range first. Michelon was able to bounce back with clean shooting and emerge as one of the leaders, followed by Elvira Oeberg of Sweden and Lora Hristova of Bulgaria.
With one more visit in the range to go, Michelon missed again and was forced to complete a penalty lap.
As Vobornikova kept up her pace, the fearsome French athletes skied to close the gap. It was an intense moment as the two passed Vobornikova to claim the top of the podium. The Czechia athlete, who has yet to make it to a World Cup podium, held on for bronze.
“When I was leaving the last loop, I had to look back, and I just couldn't imagine that this would be the finish, that I will be the third one," Vobornikova said.
In the women’s 12.5km mass start, 30 competitors skied five laps totaling 12.5km (7.8 miles), shooting in prone twice and standing twice. Any missed targets resulted in a 150m penalty loop.
At the Anterselva Biathlon Arena, heavy snow was falling, but there was no wind to impact the skiers in the range.
"It was tough for everyone, but we were lucky, because the snow is getting stronger now than during the race," Simon said about the race conditions.
There were no Americans competing in the race.